If you get overwhelmed, feeling like you're living through one of the craziest times in history, it's worth dipping back into the era of Mutually Assured Destruction for a reality check. Here's the most ridiculous scene from The Manhattan Project, the 1986 movie better known as "the dumber version of War Games." Watch in horror as John Lithgow and Frasier's Dad chew the hell out of the scenery while they talk about nuclear war. It's all because a plucky teenager has built his own nuclear bomb, with the help of Sex And The City's Cynthia Nixon. It all starts because nuclear weapons researcher Lithgow wants to impress the kid's mom, so he invites the kid to see "the sexiest laser in the world." Ewww. You know, we have a word for grown men who invite teenage boys to see their sexy lasers. I think it's the same word we use for guys who tell teenage boys their home-made nukes are "very pretty" and beg to be allowed to touch them. Anyway, later the kid breaks, with Nixon's help, and steals some plutonium, replacing it with dish soap. (Of course!) He wants to build his own nuke so he can win the science fair. Yeah. I think what actually puts this sequence so far over the top is the part where the snotty teenager lectures Lithgow about the meaning of M.A.D. — right after Frasier's Dad has given him the "we're all sons of bitches" speech. When he talks about how they're all complicit in nuclear destruction, it sounds just like when he told Frasier to stop throwing away his half-eaten anchovy pizza in that one episode. [IMDB]